


Love is a relationship between two or more people who hold mutual affection for each other

by Hieiandshino



Series: What is love? [9]
Category: Avengers (Comics), Marvel, Marvel (Comics), Marvel 616, Young Avengers
Genre: 30 Day OTP Challenge, Background Slash, Developing Relationship, Epic Friendship, F/M, Friendship, Gen, Gen Work, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-22
Updated: 2013-12-22
Packaged: 2018-01-05 11:53:41
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,899
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1093589
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hieiandshino/pseuds/Hieiandshino
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><i>“So, Pietro, huh?”</i><br/><i>Clint knows where this is going, knows in the moment Pietro’s name is spoken, but decides to play dumb. “Pietro what?” He asks.</i><br/><i>Tony only arches an eyebrow. “Don’t play dumb with me, Barton. I </i>created <i>playing dumb about a laid. And I know you two are doing it. I</i> know.”</p>
<p>(30 Day OTP Challenge, Day Nine: Hanging out with friends. Unrevised work)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Love is a relationship between two or more people who hold mutual affection for each other

**Author's Note:**

  * For [DuendeJunior](https://archiveofourown.org/users/DuendeJunior/gifts).



> Marvel (all media types) does not belong to me.
> 
> Link for the quote of the title: [here](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friendship).
> 
> Set after _A + X #8_ , because that shit is divine, and _X-Factor #270_ , because I love timelines and canon.
> 
> This fanfic was unrevised and, because my first language isn't English, there will be mistakes. As soon as I have the revised work, I'll edit it.

Kate is nervous. She tries her best to not show, but she is tapping one of her feet a little too fast and she looks a little too self-aware today. Clint can understand why she feels this way, he really does, but it’s not as if it’s someone _important_. It’s just Tony. Clint knows she has met him already, even before she became a superhero. After all, she is a _Bishop_ and the Bishops are as rich as Tony, right?

“Just breath, Katie.” Clint says and pats her shoulder to show she is a good girl. Kate only glares. “It’s just Tony.” He says anyway, because, really, it’s just _Tony_.

“I _am_ calm, okay? I mean, I am an Avenger, I’m not, you know, a rookie. It’s just that Tony Stark asked me to test some arrows and said there is this possibility of me going on a mission with S.H.I.E.L.D.. I mean, _okay_.” But it’s not okay, not really. Katie fought many wars, Katie defeated many guys, but a mission for S.H.I.E.L.D. where she was invited personally ( _well, not personally, yet, because Tony only commented Hill was thinking of calling her for_ one _mission_ ) is something completely different. She doesn’t know what to expect, and she is best friends with Super-Soldiers, the soul children of the Scarlet Witch and a kree/skrull prince. Clint won’t even talk about this new guy she is dating and her two new teammates.

“It’s okay to be nervous.” Clint tells her. “I mean, _I_ was nervous when I went to the Avengers to ask for a chance.”

“And you got it.” Kate snaps back. “And all you had to say was that you wanted to be a good guy.”

“Because Tony vouched for me. He’s a cool guy and you’re good. I know it, you know it, he knows it. He’ll vouch for you too, I’m sure, and you’ll kick ass on this new mission.”

“ _If_ I go.” She says and then the elevator door opens. Tony is already there, in front of them, opening his arms like a host. Clint smiles to him and rushes to hug the man, like always, but Katie breaths slowly and adjusts her bag on her shoulders before smiling her prettiest smile and shaking Tony’s hand. When she does it, all the doubts and the nervous actions are gone. Clint makes a mental note to _not_ let Hill try to recruit Kate to be a spy.

“Are you guys ready for the most amazing arrows in the _universe_?” Tony asks, sounding too excited for someone who obviously hasn’t been sleeping for a few months. When something _bad_ happens to him and nothing he can do make him better, he starts doing things for other people, like Clint and Kate or Steve’s new uniform and other stuff.

Not that Clint is complaining, but it’s not healthy. Of course, if later Tony decides to give him a wireless DVD, Clint will stop half-judging the poor man and let him wander through his insomnia without actually facing his problems, mostly because he still can’t understand where those wires go.

“So” Kate starts saying, looking around the shooting range as if to see if there’s any clue of what arrows she’ll use today. But, in reality, she’s probably thinking of stealing the design so she can have one all to herself in her house. “What types of arrows you invented that we haven’t seen yet?”

“Well” Tony starts and then directs them to a table, near the practice targets with a metallic box in it. He digits his password and the box makes a decompression sound before its lid opens slowly. Its base then starts dividing itself in three, moving slowly to both left and right and various arrows of different colors appear before then. “I’m inventing things based on things that already exist, like this arrow—” He points out to a black one. “—that works as a hacking device, so it can access all data inside a computer and send it to another device, probably one of S.H.I.E.L.D.s computer. Or this one—” He taps a green one. “—that deactivates the whole place. They’re basic the same but their functions are different, so we can’t use the green to hack and the black to deactivate. Not if you want to ruin the whole mission. And since we’re trying to locate Magneto and Cyclops, I’m trying to invent arrows that can handle Cyclops power. Magneto’s was easier, of course, but these ones are better versions of the others that exist around.” He takes a purple arrow in his hand and flips it a few times. There are some details in red and Clint thinks that this powerful terrorist is also the father of the guy he is currently screwing. Talk about scary coincidences. “Faster, lighter and stronger too. You guys wanna try them now?”

Kate and Clint only smirk.

.

The funny thing is that Clint doesn’t remember spending a day where he hangs out with two of his best friends, has orange juice instead of beer and calls it a good day. But the arrows are great, Tony is in a better mood than the last time they talked and Kate is doing everything in her power to show she isn’t another kid trying to be a superhero. There are so many things she is trying to prove with each arrow she notches — like the fact the Young Avengers are a real deal and that they are back for sure —, but does it so easily that Clint wonders how she isn’t the leader anymore.

“Miss America is good.” She reassures them both when Clint asks about it and Tony nods, like he wanted to ask but didn’t have the heart to do it. “I’m just worried about Loki.”

“Like everyone else.” Tony and Clint answer right away, at the same time, and when they notice, all they do is clink their orange juices together, because they’re awesome like that.

Clint sips his drink before getting up to shoot another arrow that will hit bullseye. It’s extremely easy to shoot and hit the center of the target, just like it’s easy to do stuff like this and cherish old friendships. They are all superheroes and it’s terrible to actually be able to mark a date with someone — romantic or not — and then actually have time to go. But sometimes God is good and they can actually be normal for, like, _five minutes_ , that are just enough to make them remember why they fight and who they fight along with. Clint thinks about the last he did this with Natasha and/or Bobbi, or even with Steve, Wanda and Pietro and he notices it’s been a while and not often enough. It’s a bit late in the year, but he can definitely make the promise to spend more time with his friends — normal times, with everyone.

Then, Jarvis comes and asks if they don’t want to stop a robbery that just occurred. He is tempted to say they will stick here and that others can take care of this, but who is he kidding? Bounding while fighting crime is the best type of hanging out with friends. Besides, Kate is already up and Tony is saying for them to get going while he suits up. If Clint tried to stop them and say someone will probably attend the call as well, he would be thrown out of the window for being considered a skrull or something.

His friends are _so_ paranoid.

.

He isn’t wrong about the part that someone would attend the call. When they get there Danny and Jess are already talking with the police about the apparent heist that is occurring inside the bank and the possible actions, far away from the bank. “There are hostages.” She explains shortly when they arrive and Clint flinches a little. They are still a little awkward after their break up because it was, well, it was mostly Clint’s fault. And it doesn’t completely involve Pietro, so.

“Do you guys have a plan?” Katie asks, trying to look inside the bank but having no such luck.

“Well…” They say and look at each other, a little unsure. “We have one, but now that you’re here, it just got better.”

“What do you mean by that?” Tony asks, and Clint’s sure he is frowning.

“It means—” Someone says, closer to Clint than it would be appreciated _right now_. In the blink of an eye, Pietro is there, focusing on Katie, because she is the only one he doesn’t have problems with. Yet. “—We have a better advantage now.”

“They are watching all the entries, right?” Jess asks with a smirk upon her face. “I knew it. Man, why I never bet when I’m right?”

“Because then you’d be rich.” Danny says amicably, because he is awesome like that. If he wasn’t with Misty, he would be the top guy to date inside the Avengers. Everyone likes him.

“They were planning this robbery for a long time.” Pietro says, ignoring Iron Fist and Spider-Woman, because, right, not the time. “And I’m sure they have someone inside the bank, because they know every entry of everywhere. Spider-Woman saw four men in the roofs, blocking the duct air. The officers said they are sending feed every minute.”

Katie looks up to the building that is far away from where they are. “Smart. If they don’t get the feed at the right time, they shoot someone.”

“Exactly.” Danny agrees and smiles at her. Katie smiles back, forced, and she looks like she is having a horrible time to not just melt on the floor. Danny Rand, everyone. “That’s why we are so far away. So they can’t see us until it’s too late.”

“Good to know.” Tony says, and then starts to scan the building, probably hacking into the main system to get the blueprints of the bank. “So, what was the plan before we arrived?” Tony asks.

Danny points out to Pietro. “Since we can’t just barge in and they are watching everywhere, Pietro would vibrate me and him until we pass through one of the walls and we would cause distraction and take some of the gunman inside. The police would take this as a clue to take the men on the rooftop—”

“—And I would barge in the place through the front door.” Jess finishes.

“It’s a good plan.” Clint says.

“Yes, but it is too risk.” Pietro points out. “Between taking out the men and helping the hostages, we were too few. Now that you are here…”

“We can do it and make it work without risking any lives.” Clint completes and smiles a little too happy. The smirk Pietro gives him is somehow soft and it’s there for barely a second before they start to argue who is going in with Pietro and who’s going in with the police.

Clint only notices Tony watching them a few seconds later.

.

The main plan took twenty minutes to be crafted until it was perfect; the action took about ten minutes. Pietro ended up vibrating Tony, Danny and himself through the wall because they were the least likely to die from a shot wound. The police took the guys from up and other places they might have been and Jess, Katie and he barged through the door. After that, Danny and Jess took off because they were actually going to visit Luke and Jess together. Pietro lingered a little longer, to check on Clint and to talk with a police officer he apparently knew. The look he gave him was enough to say they weren’t exactly friends. They talked for about a minute and then Pietro decided it was time to leave. When Clint asked what the problem was, he just received a lift of eyebrows that said it was, basically, his life.

Tony watched them the whole time. Clint should have noticed something was wrong, but his next words made it difficult for him to argue: “What about pizza?”

“That’s how we roll.” Katie says and it’s pizza, so Clint only nods and tags along.

.

The manager isn’t happy to see three dangerous figures that can turn his working place in a target for super villains entering through the door, but cash is always welcome and, between the three of them, they all have way too much. The pizza isn’t the greatest, but this is New York, so it’s better than most places.

Katie gets a call in the middle of finishing her third slice and, after looking at the ID caller, she decides to answer out of the place, so it’s probably Loki. And that’s when Clint notices it’s a trap. Tony chews another slice of pizza, playing with the Pepperoni on his plate, listening to Clint talk about that time he paired up with Deadpool until he looks at him and _stares_. After noticing Wade Wilson in New York isn’t interesting anymore for his friend, Clint chooses to just stare him back, a little unsure, and wait for Tony to start another topic after he finishes eating the pizza in his mouth.

And, %$#%, he does: “So, Pietro, huh?”

Clint knows where this is going, knows in the moment Pietro’s name is spoken, but decides to play dumb. “Pietro what?” He asks.

Tony only arches an eyebrow. “Don’t play dumb with me, Barton. I _created_ playing dumb about a laid. And I know you two are doing it. _I know_.” It’s true, he really seems to know.

“Look, I don’t know what you’ve been hearing but you’re wrong. Me and Pietro? There’s nothing there.”

“ _Riiiight_.” Tony is not buying it. Actually, he has the same expression Bobbi had when Clint told her he didn’t have _anything_ with Jess when they started having a thing.

Is he that obvious?

“Yes, you are.” Tony answers him and Clint’s pretty sure he didn’t, well, say _that_ out loud. “You guys kept looking at each other and he smirked at you when he is, like, _happy_ or something.”

Clint ignores the implications that his merely existence makes Pietro happy, because that’s something only Wanda, Lorna and Luna have the right to do, and says: “I’m not into him and he’s not into me, really. We both know Pietro always liked people from outer space.” Clint _hates_ using this card, even when he is arguing with Pietro, because it makes him feel like a douchebag talking about someone’s preferences — mostly because doesn’t have any.

“We both know that it’s because Pietro doesn’t have much chocice.” Tony says right back to him, and, wow, talk about being an @$#%$#%. It’s kind of true, of course it is, but with so much #$#% going on with him and his family, relationships are always the last thing he has the time to think of — if he ever thinks at all. Crystal felt something for him, something nobody truly understood, not even them, actually, and Warbird is just, you know, _weird_. And they didn’t match. And she was together with the X-Men when they fought. And Clint isn’t jealous. Nope, he is _not_.

“Yeah, whatever. We’re still not having anything, though.”

Tony looks at Clint for a moment; just looks, as if he is trying to decipher something difficult. Then, he just backs off and shrugs. “Okay, we’re not talking about this now. But we will, Clint, you know we will. It’s just that I’m worried. The Maximoffs _are_ trouble — all of them, including the kids and Pietro’s hot half-sister — and I know you always had something for Wanda. I understand, I’ve been there, and it makes me worried that you’ll start developing _feelings_ for her brother — brother that, if it was a woman, you’d be already married with it since forever.”

Clint can only frown at this. “I would’ve been married with _Pietro_?”

“ _Yes_. You guys were always fighting, competing and all that. If he was a _she_ , all your arguments would’ve made sense sooner and you guys would’ve had married each other faster than you two can run or shoot.” It’s a smart comment and it makes much sense of what they have and since when they’ve been developing these feelings, but Clint is a little distracted thinking of Pietro as a woman. Wanda’s face, Aurora’s body and Pietro’s hair? “I’d be so lucky.” Clint says, grinning. “He’d be the hottest chick _ever_.”

Tony smiles too. “Yeah, sometimes God is cruel and makes only one hot twin instead of two.”

Before Clint can agree and say something about Pietro being pretty hot as a male too, Kate sits down and asks if they know someone who knows how to exorcise demons — someone that isn’t Dr. Strange or Daimon Hellstrom. “Because he is kind of dead.” She deadpans, looking already tired.

The look on Clint and Tony’s face only say they really don’t want to know what is happening, but probably will have too, because, %$#@, this sounds _serious_.

“Just a typical Friday.” She reassures them both before biting her unfinished, and now cold, pizza. “Though, if I don’t find anyone until midnight, the world ends.”

They finish their food and, ten minutes later, they go back to business.

Yep, Clint thinks to himself, just a typical Friday.

**02/09/2013**

**Author's Note:**

> Merry Christmas everybody! :D Here, have some Katie Kate; Clint playing dumb; Stark noticing things; Danny being adorable and Danny; Jess being awesome; and some in love!Pietro, because we all know he already is.
> 
> Even though this is an OTP challenge, I decided to make a story focused in Clint and another in Pietro. They have different circles of friends and I want to show it.
> 
> See you _really_ soon!


End file.
